Time for my reply
I tried to stay out of this discussion, partly because the computer I´m using doesn´t allow me to write in Hebrew. Still, with everything I´ve read here, and over the last couple of months, there are a couple of things I just have to say. I apologize for writing in English, but I won´t have a chance to do this in Hebrew for at least 3 more weeks, so bear with me I have read a lot of comments about Arinea and Comicom studios over the past couple of months. Some say we´re clinging to stereotypes and resemble previously published fantasy stories too closely (especially Tolkien). Some say we´re in it for the money, and betrayed our "principles" by working with fink on Zbeng. People suggested we compromised the quality of our books to appeal to a larger crowd. And then there´s everything that was written above... So here´s the way I see things The studio, as you all should know, is made up of Aviv and myself, despite a long and tedious search for talented people willing to share our vision, and long work hours. That means that the entire creative process, plus production, advertising and distribution, has to be done by only two people. So the question we ask ourselves most of the time is: What the hell were we thinking?! And the answer is: we wanted to make good comic books The one, definitive principle of the studio is: Comics should be fun! First of all, they should be fun for us. That means the genres, characters and settings we put to use are the ones we enjoy the most, as creators and readers. Working on Arinea, however hard it might be, is fun. Having long discussions about our characters is fun. They´re anything but stereotypical! We made Godar feisty and passionate because it´d enable us to have fun! I´ve read about a lot of dwarves in Tolkien´s works, and none of ´em even closely resembles Godar. And the same goes for the rest of ´em. Doing Zbeng was also fun, enabling us to do things a little differently, and to show off our characters and art Second, it should be fun for the readers. It´s obvious one could never please everyone, but the major rule is - if we have fun making it, others will have fun reading it People seem to deny themselves a great deal of fun. They don´t seem able to pick up Arinea and see it for what it is. They always compare it to other works, or to their own visions of what it should be. If people think they can make good comics, I´d be the first one to support them in any way I can!!! I´ve put together a catalog of Israeli comics in my site for that purpose, and by now I have a lot of experience which I am willing to share with other creators. But if I´m putting in a great deal of work and money, I will make the kind of books I want to make! All I´m asking is that you give ´em a try. If it made you smile, or kept you interested, or got you dreaming ´bout far off places - what more do you need? If it didn´t, at least you gave it a fair chance, which is all I ever asked for Arinea #1 was just the introduction. Arinea #2 was already sent to print, and will be in stores - as promised - on January 1st, with #3 and 4 following in three-month intervals. I have no intention of straying from our original story, believing that it is a good, enjoyable story, and far from what many expect it to be at the moment. You can read countless reviews of Arinea #1, and I´m sure that many will take it upon themselves to review Arinea #2 as soon as it comes out. I invite you all to judge it for yourselves I hope I get a chance to meet and talk with most of you in person at one time or another, not as creator, but as an old fan of comic books. Right now, I´ve gotta go back to Miluim. Hope I didn´t bother anyone with my long post Eran Aviani